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Commen A c rding 0 100 1 UaS e intellig nee informatio Doebl r had one +ime ~ en ·ct·ve in xfi_trat"on ~ 1vities from We t Ber1.ino The Sen t. in the public stat men to "Jhich "Non r fred and h·ch appeared in the W s il rlin press of J 17, firmed nly that Doeb er f1 d the GDR f~ the Wall w nt up~ th t his wife joined him ~n May b t retu ed in June 1962 to GDR nd b tr yed some e~f·l rator~ thereo For the Mini.ter:! I ./L-.( ~{.7: .... ,-. j \ Frano·s Jo Meeh n Chief~ \ E ate n~ffa1 , S ction \

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Control: 21') PR I ORI Y Reed: l' JUNE 1 ' . ACT ON : M SECSTATE WASHD C . .5 H URS POL~3 TO RUFHOL/AMEMBASSY BO NN PRIORI Y 3825 INFO: MIN-":J I 0 RUFHJ IUSBER BERLI N PRI ORITY 'USCOB 51 TE GRNC EAS BT ECON CON F I D E NT . A L JUNE 18 USI S ASAG 'S' 1745 IO/U F&R UNE 15 SH OOTING INC DENT IN VIEW OMP N SAND S RENGTH OF VI WS EXPR SSED IN OUR LETTER TO ABRASIMOV S WE LL AS T 11E Y PR OTES us e MMA DANT, DEPT DIS NC INED ADD TO TH 1 BY FUR HE T T M NT I N ltl A HI NGTON HOULD BE CLEAR TO ALL CONer ED TH YOUR VIEWS SHARED Y us GOVT

GP-4

ACTIO OOObU Foreign Service of the TELEGRAM United States of America OUT G 0 I N G us MISSION rum.IN FILE R~pM COpy 15/3 gk )'YL 37 -/2­

LIMITED OFFICIAL USE Charge: Classificatioll Control: ACTION: SecState WASH 17.31 PRIORITY Date: INFO: AmembasllY BONN 1r~ PRIORITY Amembassy LONDON 5r- Amembaasy MOSCOW ~, Amembassy PARIS f.22 USARRUR FOR POLAD USCINCEUR FOR POLAD USNMR SHAPE FOR BURNS USlllMLO USAf'E PARIS ALSO FOR USRO PlL.3 MIN3 SUBJECT: USCOI Murder of West Berliner in ~l EA Berlin's 1726 to Department ECON USIS Brutal murder of a man by East German border guards 10 $h&c~ ASG in the Teltow Canal has .1II1I.I~West Berliners more than any border FI

celebration of 1953 uprising in East has heightened reaction.

All morning papers June 16 gave story top play. drawing heavily on US

Commandant's statement (reftel) and parallel statement made ~ Govern­

ing Mayor Brandt in specially-called press conference last night. In

private talk with me. Brandt said that effect on west Berliners of Teltow wou).r4beQ ~ Canal shooting ~~"as deep as that caused by killing of Peter Fechter in Aug~st ~weve~t that the ~ent .a." 1962,With the significant d1fferenc~__.nCIIII circumstances did not raise the question~f an Allied failure to react while ~".'M""'~KMMKM~omething effective could still be done. Ambassador McGhee. who is in Berlin. is sending a strongly-worded

letter to Abrasimov denouncing the shooting and calling upon Soviet

LIMITED OFFICIAL WE REPRODUCTION flOM THIS COPY IS Classificatioll PROHIIITED IIUSS "llKWSJRED"

OFFICIAL FILE COpy Foreign Service of the TELEGRAM United States of America OUTGOING

LIMl'rED OFFICIAL USE Classificatioll Charge: Control: II 2 c to brint~r ~~IIa:'itl;i'il l t'6 ' j ui'ti't!e latta ' Date: o~g1~o ensure that such incidents will not be repeated. Text o( coverinw ~tatemewr and . / .lletter (reported separately) will be made public after protocol officer 12«.er. attempts to deliver ~ 'During his meeting with Abras1mov yesterday.

Ambassador Seydoux raised matter of shooting. but Abrasimov claimed

not to have been informed.

ADN release issued shortly after incident and carried by Neues

Deutsohland for June 16 claims boat had entered waters of the GDR and

did not ohange course when warning shots were fired. According paper,

Bast German guards then opened aimed fire in interests of border security

of GDR. Aocount oloses with statement that border violation was

Obviously carried out with provocative intent. and that West Berlin

underground organizations have repeatedly tested the border security of

the GDR in recent weeks.

Further investigation of inoident indicates that the motor boat

in whioh victims were riding may have teohnically violated the surveyed

border between West Berlin and Soviet Zone. but that boat did not violate

de facto border represented by East German barriers. The consensus

1s that boat _s in Bast German _ters when firing started but that

firing. inoluding possibly the fatal shots. ~r'AUij c'Jntinued after

boat had re-entered West Berlin. From bullet marks on the boat. there

is little doubt that firing oontinued aftsr boat had turned toward the

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LIMITID

but they apparently came from an Bast Oeraan guard tower about 100 yarde

from the canal. An autonatio weapon _s used, probably with a mount of victims some sort, as suggested by the acouraoy of the firing. (Both lIiUI.,... were hit several times.)

The dead nan, 42-year-old Hermann Doebler, had lived in West Berlin

sinoe shortly before the _11 went up. Prior to that time he had

worked in West Berlin but lived in the East. His wife, from whom he

was reoently divorced, and three children renained in 'the East. The

wounded girl is 22-year-old Elka Maertens. Her condition remains critical.

west Berlin police have no significant additional information ooncerning

couple. CALHOUN fj Al1l'H: ~

16 JUNE 1230 POL:JLCarson/bg

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CONFIDENTIAL Charge: Classificatio1l AM Control: 9' MIN 3 Date: usc() ACTION: SecState WASHINGTON PRIORITY 174 L 2 EAS2 INFO: Amembassy BONN 15'9 PRIORITY EC N Amembassy MOSCOW '55 It USIS Amembassy LONDON "2 .. ASAG Amembassy PARIS 727 " IO,IU USAREUR FOR POLAD It Fe 2 USCINCEUR FOR POLAD " PS USNMR SHAPE FOR BURNS .. USELMLO " PARIS ALSO FOR USRO SUBJ: Protest Letter to Abrasimov on Teltow Canal Shooting REF: Berlintel 1734 to Dept, 1564 to Bonn Mission protocol officer attempted to deliver Ambassador McGhee's protest letter on Teltow Canal incident (reftel) to

Ambassador Abrasimov at 1415 hours local time June 16. Protocol officers of Soviet Embassy read letter and one of them made oral translation into Russian for benefit of the other. They then returned letter, stating they could not accept it since it concerned matter within competence of "German Democratic Republic." However, they promised to convey contents to Ambassador Abrasimov.

.,. Ita! In answer to inquiries from press, Mission intends to state that Soviet Embassy returned letter but that we are satisfied

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the message was adequately conveyed to Ambassador Abrasimov. GP-4.

CALHOUN ~./L A. I AUTH:'t~~e~t; rv-­

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DIST: Date: 17 JUH 1"5 ACTION: SecState WASHINGTON IMMEDIATE 1745 131. H URS MIN.4 AMi INFO: Amembassy OONN 1574 usCO. SlTBJ: June 15 Shooting Incident r-2 EAS EOON FROM AMBASSADOR McGHEE USIS ASAG In the oourse of a meeting with the press in Berlin on June 16, IO/U F&cR I was asked if my letter to Abrasimov had been approved in Washington. I said I was sure that the views expressed in the letter were shared by those responsible in the Department. The June 15 incident has aroused very strong public iM1gnation in Berlin because of its unusually brutal nature• The fact that this particular incident coincided with the anniversary of the June 1953 uprising has also oaused broader repercussions than the normal run of Berlin shootings. As always" the U.S. offioial reactf. on 1s being carefully observed. In view of these

considerations" I be~lVe that a useful purpose would be served by partment a statement from the WJrHwdlrMlH-!1or the Secretary which would join in forcefully oondemning the June 15 Shooting. ap-4 FMUr:z;, AUTH: F eh

M:FJMeehan:lms 17 June 1016

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